An important factor in cooking is the time for which a food item is exposed to heat as well as the timing required for the various stages of the cooking process. During cooking, it is often difficult for a cook to accurately determine or keep track of the amount of time that a food item has been exposed to heat. Moreover, a cook often prepares several food items at one time, each of which may require a different cooking time.
It is common for cooks to use clocks or countdown timers to more precisely gauge the cooking time of a food items. For example, a cook may use one more timers to monitor the cooking time of several food items and may place the timers on a counter adjacent the cooking appliance or appliances. However, prior art cooking timers are typically independent of the cooking appliance and the cook may have difficultly in remembering which timer is set for which cooking appliance. Moreover, the user may have a difficult time in finding a safe place to locate the timer, especially in confined and/or particularly active cooking environments.
In other circumstances, a cook may wish to temporarily leave the area of the cooking appliance, such as when a cooking time is particularly long. In addition, cooking appliances typically must be cleaned after use. Therefore there is a need for a cooking appliance having a timer that may be easily and conveniently associated with the cooking appliance for which it is set, especially when several cooking appliances and timers are being used, which timer can be separated from the cooking appliance for transport to another location and for cleaning of the cooking appliance.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of prior art cooking timers and satisfies the above desires. The cooking appliance of the present invention includes a timer which can be securely attached to the cooking appliance in an easy and convenient manner and which can be removed and transported by the cook to another location, or for cleaning the cooking appliance.
In a preferred embodiment, the cooking appliance includes a lid having a handle with a socket for secure, removable attachment of a cooking timer. The timer includes a display, such as a mechanical timer or a digital timer with an Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and control settings preferably on an upwardly-facing top surface of the timer. Preferably, the handle (and timer attached thereto) is located at a top of the lid such that the timer is located at a highest point of the cooking appliance to provide a clear and unobstructed view of the timer. Further, the lid and/or the handle thereof preferably rotates relative to a bottom of the cooking appliance to permit the cook to align the timer for optimal viewing and control.